- Title: Psych – The Amazing Psych-Man & Tap Man, Issue #2
- tv.com: link
When a new vigilante named The Mantis (Miles Fisher) starts cleaning up the streets of Santa Barbara by taking down one of the biggest drug rings in the area Shawn (James Roday) and Gus (Dulé Hill) are hired to help uncover the masked man’s identity.
Shawn’s first suspect is the department’s newest member played by New Kid on the Block Joey McIntyre.who takes Shawn’s prodding and odd questions about his physical fitness and how he could handle himself with a group of men in the entirely wrong way providing for a pair of awkward moments between the two.
Eventually, with the help of their own super-hero identities as The Catch (who proves to be surprisingly effective) and Tap Man (who is not), the pair uncover the secret identity of the hero just in time to help him take down the drug ring and help prove The Mantis was framed for a murder he didn’t commit, but that’s only half the story.
Aside from the comic book opening and bumpers for each commercial (which are pretty cool) the episode is filled with nice nods to comic books and TV-shows like Batman. Not only do we get spinning newspapers and even a clever way to get the trademark POW! and ZAP! into the show, but they actually makes sense with how both are written into the show.
“The Amazing Psych-Man & Tap Man, Issue #2” is an episode that should appeal to both comic fans and longtime fans of the show. It’s a natural, yet still unexpected, story to take the characters on and provides some genuinely fun tongue-in-cheek homages to the old Batman TV-show that I really enjoyed.